Rainboom Trials
by sychang18
Summary: What if it had taken Rainbow Dash much longer to return home? (This is an alternate sequel to "Double Rainboom". I do not own that fanmade crossover episode.)
1. Prologue

Rainbow just stood there, twitching and shivering. Those crazy girls would arrive any moment! She had to act fast. Having yelped "Help me!" hadn't really helped. Hay with it, she probably gave away her position already!

She swiveled her head, this way and that way. Finally making her decision, she dove into an alleyway as fast as her legs could carry her. She grimaced as she landed; she had made the mistake of flapping her crippled wings.

She peeped out, and she didn't have to wait long. Three streaks soon zapped by. She heard the girls' voices as the trio conversed.

"Where'd she go?"

"I don't see her anywhere."

"Antoinette's gone?"

Rainbow Dash forced herself to hold her groans of frustration within her. Her name was not Antoinette! What kind of a name was that for a mare like her, anyway?

"She was right here!"

"Rats! She must have gotten away."

The cyan pegasus smirked. Well, she'd certainly gotten that right. Her triumph was cut short by a wail, though. Wow, that blue girl was seriously intent on clinging to her like Discord's cotton candy clouds.

"Don't worry, Bubbles, we'll find another pony."

"Not one that can fly."

"Or talk."

Rainbow let out an inaudible gasp. Those three just wouldn't give up. . . she had to get home! What kind of a mess had she gotten herself into?! If only she'd listen to Twilight, if only. . . what if she was never to see her friends again-

Her legs buckled under her.

* * *

**Yes, I know, pretty pathetic and short for a prologue. But it'll have to do for now. My intention is to work on this whenever I'm stuck on "Nemeses Nevermore", my current fanfic. Hopefully, both will turn out well.**


	2. Chapter 1

Rainbow woke with a start. _Heh, _that_ was a crazy dream. . ._ She slowly brought herself to her hooves. Surrounding her was a huge mass of darkness. Confused, Rainbow looked up to find. . . the moon.

_Oh, it's nighttime?_ She didn't pay attention to where she was walking until her chin bumped into a hard brick wall. She didn't have to look forward; she knew what it felt like. _Wait. . . brick wall. . ._

She was still in the alleyway. That hadn't been a dream at all.

She looked around frantically for the exit. Finally finding it, she rushed out, breathing heavily. Again, she took in her surroundings. The streets were deserted. At least she wouldn't have to stay cramped in an alleyway again to hide.

If there was one thing Rainbow Dash had realized the moment she had entered this world, it was that this place was _nothing _like Ponyville. The buildings were different, the roads were different. . . there probably weren't any ponies here at all. Until she came along.

"What am I supposed to _do._ . ." she muttered to herself as she dragged her hooves along, head hanging down. Now she had nowhere to go. If only she'd listened to Twilight, she wouldn't have ended up in this mess. She would have still been at home.

What was she to do? She'd missed out on helping Scootaloo with her scooter stance. She'd missed out on helping Fluttershy with her bear-taming business. She'd missed out on training with Bulk Biceps on wingpower.

Forlornly, Rainbow looked up to the sky. Flying wouldn't help. Her wings still ached to the point that she couldn't spread or fold them.

What was the point of representing the Element of Loyalty if she was too rash to keep herself with her friends?

* * *

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, Professor, it's true!"

Professor Utonium scratched his head as he pondered over what his girls had told him. "So. . . you're saying that some rainbow pony with wings swooped in and saved you all, challenged you all to a race, and then she disappeared?"

"Yes!"

"I don't understand where she'd gone, though," Buttercup grumbled.

Bubbles sniffed. "Why did Antoinette have to leave so fast?"

"Maybe she's got her own place to deal with," Blossom suggested. "Maybe she's a superhero somewhere else, and was just passing by when everything happened."

"Could be right," the Professor replied. "If she'd left that fast, she'd have her own reasons."

"Still, girls," he continued, "are you _absolutely sure_ she broke the sound barrier and created a sonic boom?"

"Yeah!" Buttercup cried out with excitement as she recalled the earlier events. "She was flying around the monster and kicking some serious butt, and then she's diving out of the sky in the sunlight, and _FWAM!_ You hear that sound!"

"And when _that_ happened," Blossom cut in, "she created a full-out rainbow! It spread out to all directions!"

The professor sat silent. Was this a new species? Or a genetically modified creature? Or was that pony a more amiable type of monster? He would have to research that.

"Well, girls, time for bed now," he said. "Hurry up now, you all have school tomorrow. We can talk about this some other time."

* * *

"Alright, everypony! That's good enough for now! We'll continue construction tomorrow!" The Ponyvillians sighed in relief as they sat down and took off their helmets.

Twilight took a good look around. It was a good thing that she was able to plan out rebuilding Ponyville. She still couldn't believe how much damage Rainbow Dash had caused. More importantly, where had she gone? Where did the wormhole lead?

"Hey, Twilight!"

"Ya still there, sugarcube?"

Twilight turned to find Pinkie Pie and Applejack, panting as if they had run here from deep within the Everfree Forest.

Which was true.

"Well, girls? Did you find her?"

Applejack shook her head miserably. "No sign of even a hair on her mane anywhere! We climbed up every tree we came across!"

"How lost do you think she is?" Pinkie Pie cried frantically. "I was going to invite her to a monthiversary to celebrate getting into the Wonderbolts' Academy!"

Twilight scratched her chin. "Well, she's certainly far from Ponyville, then-"

"Twilight, darling!"

"Is it OK if we talk to you now?"

Twilight looked down and found Rarity and Fluttershy climbing up the hill towards her, dragging empty wagons behind them.

"Yes, it's all right. What?"

"Bulk Biceps says that we ran out of wooden boards," Fluttershy said. "We'll need some more straw for the bricks."

"Not to mention we're fresh out of nails, dear," Rarity filled in. "We'll need some more hay for the roofs as well."

"It's OK," Twilight replied. "We'll be continuing construction tomorrow anyways, so we can refill those wagons first thing next morning. For now, let's just go home and have a good rest."

"What about Rainbow Dash?" Pinkie wailed. "We still have to search for her!"

"It'll be all right, Pinkie," the lavender unicorn assure the pink earth pony. "Rainbow can fend for herself."

"Ah agree," Applejack chimed in, throwing a hoof over Pinkie's shoulders. "If there's anypony out of the six of us that can defend herself for long out in the Everfree, it's Rainbow Dash."

Pinkie Pie sniffled a bit and nodded.

"Alright, everypony, let's go home, now," Twilight ordered. "Get a good rest. We still have a long way to go."

As her friends and the others left the town square, Twilight sighed and hung her head. "Rainbow. . . what have you gotten us all into?

"What have you gotten yourself into?

* * *

"What have I gotten myself into?" Rainbow whined as she trudged across the alleyways. "What if I dragged everypony else into trouble, too?" She sighed in exasperation. She needed to rest from worrying.

Where was she supposed to sleep though?

_Thud!_

"Waugh!" Rainbow fell to the floor with a _thump._ She stood up. . . and found herself standing over a flattened cardboard box.

_At least there's something I can use,_ the pegasus thought as she brought to setting the box straight up again. She couldn't believe the fact that she would have to sleep in a box for hiding purposes, but it wasn't like she had a choice. She didn't want to get discovered again, especially not after the chaos this afternoon.

For the time being, she wanted to lay low.

And not attract attention.

* * *

"Can you girls stop shuffling?"

"Sorry, lead girl, but I can't sleep, OK?"

"Wasn't she the most adorable pony ever?"

Blossom just sighed and listened to her sisters talk on and on about the pegasus pony. Which was fine by her. She had to admit, she was still pretty worked up about the incident. She felt quite sleepy, but sleep just wouldn't come.

She just stared up at the dark ceiling and closed her eyes, making effort to fall asleep. As she did so, she wondered what the pony was doing. Flying in the night sky with a rainbow trailing behind her? Or sleeping? Where?

It took a half hour for the other girls to quiet down, and another half hour for all of them to fall asleep.

* * *

**Hey, guys! Sorry about the prologue! It was pretty curt, and so was my commentary. . . but anyway! This is the first chapter of "Rainboom Trials", and I hope you readers will enjoy this! Again, I'll be working on this whenever I'm stuck while working on "Nemeses Nevermore". So, hopefully, both stories will be done within this year.**

**A very poor attempt at a chapter compared to some of my other works. . . but I haven't the time making changes to anything, considering I've got finals coming up. So, I work with what I've got. Deal with it.**

**We won't be focusing on what's happening in Ponyville too much. I'll just say that ahead of time. I am not going to flash back there every single chapter.**


End file.
